Jesus I Adore You

Good Friday
April 2, 2010
John 18:1 – 19:42 “They will look upon him whom they have pierced.”


"Sorrow can lead us into one of four lands. The barren land in which we try to escape from it. The broken land in which we sink under it. The bitter land in which we resent it. Or the better land in which we bear it and become a blessing to others."

We do have our own experience of sorrow and suffering in our lives. And when they come, our life turns upside down and we start doubting the love of God. But they are parts and parcels of our lives. It haunts and challenges our faith and we can easily identify ourselves with Jesus when he cried out loud, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

My father died seven years ago. It was one of my most painful moments of my life. How could I forget that moment when I suddenly doubted God’s love when my father had a major heart stroke? One night while I was looking at my father terribly suffering in the hospital, I remember blaming God, “I gave up everything to serve you, how come you are not helping us?” The pain of being abandoned and bitterness started creeping into my heart. I cried and blamed God. But suddenly, I found myself softly singing a line from an old worship song: “Holy darkness, blessed night, Heaven’s answer hidden from our sight. As we wait for the God of silence, we embrace this holy night.” That hit me. I realized that God was asking me to trust him more when I am in darkness, for faith is tested when one faces his/her own sorrow and pain.


Good Friday is a day of looking at Jesus whom we have pierced on the cross. It’s ironic and inconceivable that when we look at Jesus hanging on the cross, we gain strength and consolation. Jesus wants us to follow his example by embracing our cross. He does not want us to escape, or be bitter, or sink in our sufferings. He wants us to faithfully carry our cross, find its meaning and be the source of inspiration to others.

We admire people who gallantly carried their own crosses. They suffered a lot, but their determination and unwavering courage in the midst of their pain, persecution, and humiliation give us strength to face our own. A friend of mine died of cancer two years ago. But I admired how she willingly accepted her fate and surrendered her life to God. She suffered terribly but she died in peace. The cancer did not to stop her from loving God. She found the meaning of her suffering. We have our share of suffering but we missed the meaning, because we dwelled too much in our own bitterness and sorrow and failed to transcend them.

The death of Jesus is not a sign of scandal, shame or defeat. It is the ultimate sign of Jesus’ total surrender to the Father’s will. Jesus persevered in his suffering out of his great love for us, and he gained salvation for us. He knew the meaning of his cross and he gladly carried it.

Let’s not allow our tears blind us from finding the meaning of our suffering. Look up intently on the cross. The meaning of your suffering rests in the crucified Jesus. And you would know why Jesus willingly said, “Into your hands, I commend my spirit.”

“There is no Christian holiness without devotion to the Passion” – John Paul II

- Fr.Willy M. Samson,SJ / Blessed Sacrament Parish, Hollywood / April 2, 2010

Let Jesus Wash Your Feet

Holy Thursday
April 1, 2010
John 13: 1-15 “Not all of you are clean.”


Today we begin to commemorate the passion and death of our Lord. As we accompany him in his suffering and death, let us be reminded that Jesus is doing everything for the forgiveness of our sins.

In the Jewish culture, washing another’s feet was one that could not be required of the lowliest Jewish slave. It was so humiliating and degrading that even the slaves were spared from doing it. But Jesus did it out of his great love for us. He did not care what others would say. What matters most was to save us and to obey the will of the Father.

Today, as we accompany Jesus in his agony and humiliation, allow him to wash your feet. Be one of the disciples. See, feel, and listen to Peter’s hesitancy and shame while his feet are being washed by Jesus. What do you feel when Jesus started washing your feet? Feel his gentle hands touching your dirty feet. Feel how he loves you in spite of your sins.


Let Jesus love you today. Let him cleanse your soul by washing your feet.
St. John gave us something to reflect as we begin recalling our sinfulness.

“If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness,
we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 1: 5 – 2:1)
_________________________
Let us Pray:

You overlook our sins that we may repent. (Wisdom 11:23b)

You have mercy on all, because you can do all things.
You overlook my sins so that I may repent. Lord, have mercy.

For you love all things that exist and loathe nothing that you have made,
For you would not have fashioned anything if you hated it. Lord, have mercy.

And how could a thing remain in existence unless you willed it?
Or how could it be preserved had it not been called forth by you? Lord, have mercy on me.

But you spare me because I am yours,
O Lord, you come to give me life and have it to the fullest. Amen.

- Fr.Willy M. Samson,SJ / Blessed Sacrament Parish, Hollywood / April 1, 2010

Suffer with Jesus

Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday
March 28, 2010
Luke 23: 1-49 “All his friends stood at a distance”

In our dream to have a slim and perfect body, we exercise daily to burn our excess calories. Some end up strained and frustrated. The daily exercise becomes a mere “calorie burning” activity. But some are smiling and fulfilled. They don’t care about calories. They exercise for one good reason – a healthy life. And they benefit much from it, including losing weight.

Holy week could also be like that. It becomes an annual tiring religious ritual when done for pure religious obligation of fasting, abstinence, praying the way of the cross, vigils and attending long Holy Thursday Mass to Easter Vigil Mass as penance for our sins.

But Holy Week is more than that. It’s a life-giving spiritual exercise. It’s a profound opportunity of bringing into our “here and now” the passion and death of Jesus and making his love real for us. Holy week liturgies and rituals are pregnant with meanings. If taken seriously, it could lead us to a spiritual growth and renewal. But we need to involve ourselves to the different images of Jesus’ humiliation, suffering and death on the cross. Let it sink into our hearts to gain profit from it. Bear in mind that when Jesus suffered on the cross, it was not only his body that suffered much but his soul. The suffering was so intense that he sweated blood in the garden and begged his disciples to stay with him: “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch.” (Mark 14:34). Unfortunately, the disciples fled and left him alone.

When we are distress, we ask God, “Where are you in my pain and suffering?” But Jesus is asking us, “Where are you in mine?” This Holy Week, let’s stay and suffer with Jesus. Don’t run like the disciples. Be like Mary and John who stayed with Jesus until his death.


But how do we dispose ourselves for the Holy Week? How do we gain profit from it? St. Ignatius of Loyola suggested a specific grace to ask when meditating the Passion of Christ:

“Ask for sorrow and regret, because the Lord is going to his Passion for my sins.
Ask for an interior suffering because of the great suffering he is to endure for me.”

The feelings of sorrow and regret is not so much that our sins merited death but our sins are the cause of Jesus’ death: “He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we are healed.” (Is 52:13 - 53:12).

But Ignatius does not end here. It’s his hope that while meditating how Jesus willingly suffered and died for me (to make it more personal); I may realize the depth and breadth of God’s love for me. And in gratitude, I would be moved to consider the question:

“What should I do and suffer for him?”

As we commemorate the Paschal Mystery, may it lead us to an overwhelming gratitude that Jesus died for us, so “that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
Holy Week is an intense spiritual exercise. Walk with him on the road to Calvary. Feel his interior pain and sorrow. Be grateful. For his death merited life for you.

- Fr. Willy M. Samson,SJ / Sacred Heart Community, Los Gatos, California / March 28, 2010

Give Life

5th Sunday of Lent (C)
March 21, 2010
John 8: 1-11 “They went away one by one”

Three surprises may welcome you when you get to heaven: People whom you expect to be there are not there. People whom you think should not be there are there. And most of all, you are there.

Our gospel reminds us to be slow or not to judge others. While it is good for us to individually examine our own intentions and motivations in our actions, we should be extra careful when doing the same for others. Any judgment which is not based on the established facts, motivations and intentions is prone to error. Beware: Our emotions, biases and prejudices may lead us to hasty judgments. We might end up falsely accusing each other.

The Pharisees in our gospel angrily brought the “adulterous” woman to Jesus, hoping that he would condemn her to death by stoning. But Jesus knew their hideous intentions, said, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7) The Pharisees were caught in surprise for two reasons: First, nobody among them was blameless in God’s eyes. Second, in the Mosaic Law, only the principal witnesses have the right to cast the first stone. Nobody dared to throw the first stone because nobody saw the woman having an illicit affair. So they dropped the stone and left in shame.

Surprisingly, Jesus who has the right to judge spared her also. When everybody left, Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on do not sin anymore.” (John 8:11) The guilty woman was ready to receive her due punishment. But it never came. Instead she received forgiveness and was encouraged not to sin again. God disposes mercy (not wrath) to remorseful and repentant sinner. When God thinks of us, He thinks of saving and giving us life, and not to condemn us to eternal death.

The Pharisees saw the sin of the woman. Hatred ruled their hearts. They wanted punishment. On the other hand, Jesus saw a person trapped in her own sin, begging for help and longing for forgiveness. And Jesus gave her what she wanted: Mercy. The mercy she received was enough for her to reform her life. Jesus came not to judge but to save, so “that we may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10).

In another confrontation with the Pharisees, they protested when Jesus dined with Matthew, a tax collector. “Why does your teacher eat with sinners?” (Matthew 9:11). But Jesus said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but the sinners.” (Matthew. 9:12-13). In deep gratitude, Matthew became an ardent disciple. Like Jesus, we should hate the sin but not the sinner.

I cannot forget the words of a death row prisoner in New Bilibid Prison who became a catechist for the prisoners, “Sa totoo lang Pads, wala naman akong planong magbago, pero nang makita kong meron pa ring nagmamahal sa aming mga bilanggo, tulad ninyong ng mga prison volunteers. Naisip ko...lalo na ang Diyos. Doon ako nagbago.”

This Lenten Season, let’s be slow or avoid judging others. We are all sinners. God alone has the right to judge for he knows what’s in our hearts. Throw those rocks away from your hands. We are capable of doing greater things than throwing rocks. Our hands should lead sinners back to the fold of God. Instead of throwing rocks, forgive, understand, and pray for sinners. This is what God wants from us: save sinners and give life.

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
- Mother Theresa of Calcuta

-Fr.Willy M. Samson,SJ / Sacred Heart Jesuit Community, Los Gatos / March 18, 2010

A Hole in My Soul

4th Sunday of Lent (C)
March 14, 2010
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 “He was lost and has been found”

After thirty three years of unwavering search, Abel Madariaga of Buenos Aires finally found his long lost son Francisco. Trembling before the national news camera in Argentina, Abel said, “I never stopped thinking I would find him. At times I wondered what the hell I was living for. I had to find a way to continue, thinking about everyday things, hoping for this moment of happiness. When he came through the door that night, we recognized each other totally, and the hug that brought us together was spectacular. Hugging him for the first time, it was as if I filled a hole in my soul.”

As we come closer to Holy Week, our gospel brings us to the much-loved story of sin and forgiveness between father and son. We destroy our relationship with God when we live in sin. The parable portrays this truth when the younger son asked his inheritance from his father and went astray to a distant land. Sin is precisely like that – cutting ties and declaring independence from the Father. And when one disconnects with the Father, he disconnects himself with the source of grace. There is no fullness of life outside the Father’s love. Anyone who lives in sin feels that sense of “emptiness” that no worldly pleasures and treasures could fill. It’s a hole in our souls. Ironically, it could lead us back to our senses and walk us back to the Father. Unfortunately, it cost the son all his inheritance to realize this.

The huge wealth he inherited quickly drained as he carelessly indulged in worldly pleasures. And when all his wealth and “party” friends disappeared, and found himself miserable in the company of pigs, he realized his stupidity and repented.


But to repent is not just genuine sorrow and tears. John the Baptist insists on restitution: “Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance.” (Luke 3:8). St.Ignatius of Loyola is not satisfied with “vague and generalized sense” of sorrow and repentance for one’s sins. He wants a more personalized, particular and concrete way of recalling one’s sins. We need to accept the root of our sins (which are self-love, self-will, and self-interests), repent and amend. To name our sins is to tame it. The son, after coming to his senses, humbly said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your servants.” If pride is the first step away from the Father, humility is the first step back home.

Tiger Woods said it well in his public apology for cheating his wife, “For all that I have done, I am so sorry. I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. I hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife’s family, my friends…It’s now up to me to make amends, and that starts by never repeating the mistakes I’ve made. As (my wife) Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words; it will come from my behavior over time…”

When the son finally came to his senses, he made three important acts of genuine repentance: went home, beg for forgiveness and made restitutions.

The rest of the story is for you to digest in prayer. Is our best glimpse of God’s love. Close your eyes. Imagine that you’re the son - stinking like a pig and totally filthy. Then, oblivious of your smell and appearance, the Father lovingly hugs you. Then hear Him say, “I’m glad you’re home.” That’s more than enough to fill that hole in your soul.

-Fr. Willy M. Samson.SJ / Sacred Heart Jesuit Community, Los Gatos / March 14, 2010


read story of father and son :
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/lt_argentina_dirty_war_children;_ylt=At1BxHAlXxhenaFWw6zx7V7lWMcF

My Fig Tree Named "Faith"

3rd Sunday of Lent (C)
March 7, 2010
Luke 13: 1-9 “Sir, leave it for this year, and I shall cultivate the ground around it”


Last Thursday, the Northwest Yeshiva Girls basketball team forfeited their playoff game against St. John in Washington. They walked off the court after their game was scheduled during the Jewish "Fast of Esther," a day when Jewish people go fast for food and water. When their request to change the game time was denied, they decided to forfeit and sacrificed the championship playoff. The school’s head, Rabbi Bernie Fox said, "We didn't think it was safe for the team to play without water. We worked really hard to get here, to qualify for playoff. But we're also very happy to be able to show that our religion is very important to us. And they felt that as important as this basketball tournament was, they couldn't compromise their personal values. I'm very proud of them."

Our gospel shows us a different Jesus. Out of Jesus’ exasperations of dealing with people who see nothing but the sins of others, he blurted out twice, “I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Luke 13:3,5) And then told the crowd the parable of the barren fig tree, “For three years now, I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. Cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?” (Luke 3:7).

The call to repent from our sins is one of things we need to seriously consider this season of lent. But in our gospel today, to repent does not only mean to be sorry for our sins and ask forgiveness. In our parable, it is not mentioned that the fig tree is a bad tree, but the fact that it has no fruits for the past three years. Jesus wants it cut. We may not be murderers, adulterers, drug pushers, and the likes. But we may be fig trees without fruits in the making. To be a Christian is not just to be “good” in the sense that we don’t offend, abuse, or harass people. We should go beyond the attitude of “I don’t offend others, I mind my own business, and you mind your own.” This is not the meaning of being a good Christian. Good Christians are expected to bear fruit by labouring with the Lord in his enterprise of saving souls.

St.Ignatius of Loyola, in his Spiritual Exercises, explained the will of God, “Human beings are created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by means of doing this to save their souls.” (Spex 23). For him, to “serve” God includes commitment to God’s work, “to labour with him, so that following him in his suffering, we will also follow him in his glory.” (Spex 95). No pain, no glory. No labor, no fruits. Thus, if we are minimalist Christians who are happy with just attending Sunday Mass, saying our prayers, novenas, and rosaries, fasting and abstinence during lent, and giving alms to beggars once in a while... we may end up like the fig tree without fruits. We may end up like the Pharisees who faithfully do their religious rituals but do nothing for the poor and then claim righteousness.

I do admire the Northwest Yeshiva Girls who gallantly stood for their faith because they know their priority – their faith. But Jesus wants us to do “magis” (more) for God. He wants to see “faith in action” in our lives, for St.Paul said, “Faith without action is dead.”

Our faith is the fig tree and our action is the fruit. To bear fruit is to allow ourselves to be cultivated and fertilized regularly by our Lord, the Gardener. But such cultivation and fertilization of our faith (our fig tree) means doing what God wants: All are called to share in Christ’s ongoing work of establishing the Kingdom of God in the world. Our personal, family and community prayer should disturb us and open our eyes to the needs of others. Here is the flowering of a fig tree, and on its way to bearing fruits!

Repent, amend, and act now! The Lord is giving us another chance. Let your fig tree bears fruit. Let your faith bears action. Reach out. Serve. Forgive.


- Fr. Willy M. Samson,SJ / Sacred Heart Jesuit Community, Los Gatos / March 7, 2010

read "Team Forfeits Playoffs due to religious fast."
http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1056883

Fighting with Towel

Holy Thursday
John 13: 1-15 “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you
ought to wash one another’s feet.”


In boxing, when a trainer sees that his boxer is being badly beaten by his opponent, he throws a towel and the fight is over. In boxing arena, throwing a towel is a sign of surrender and giving up. But in the arena of loving, a towel picks up a different meaning – it is a sign of commitment to service and genuine loving.

In our gospel today, Jesus prepares himself for the greatest fight of His life. It is one person against the world. He knows that He is facing a dreadful, shameful and painful death. Clearly, it will be a lopsided victory by the enemy: “Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. The devil had already induced Judas to hand him over.” (John 13:2). It is very tempting for Jesus to throw the towel. In fact, when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, he entertained throwing the towel and giving up, “My Father, if it is possible, take this cup of suffering from me. Yet now what I want, but what you want.”(Matthew 26:39).

In our boxing arena called life, for brave fighters like Jesus, throwing the towel is not an option. He courageously faced His enemies up to the end: “He loved his own … and he loved them to the end.”(John 13:1). Jesus knows nobody loses in loving. And so, instead of throwing the towel, He decided to tie the towel on his waist and started washing the disciples’ feet. The Son of God gladly takes the role of a slave, ever ready to wash dirty things including the disciples’ dirty feet. It is fighting back with towel in the name of love.

One of the difficulties in washing things is the likelihood of getting dirty. We don’t want to clean things because we don’t want to mess ourselves. But when one loves, he/she is willing to get dirty. A mother finds joy in bathing her soiled child even it means getting soiled. A boy bathing his dog will eventually get wet. When one cleans things, he/she will likely get some dirt. The dirty towel becomes the symbol of service.

When Jesus decided to wash the disciples’ feet, He knew that he would be tainted with our dirt – our sins. But out of His love for us, he joyfully willed it. He died for our sins. His blood on the cross cleansed and renewed our wretched spirits.

But our pericope today did not end in washing feet. After the washing, Jesus wore his clothes back and said to the disciples, "Do you understand what I have just done to you? You, then, should wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:12-14).

Jesus gave us an example to follow. He wants us to tie a towel in our waist - a symbol of our desire to love and be of service to others. Tying a towel in our waist may mean going out of our comfort zones and be involved in cleaning others’ mess. In this world of consumerism where “service without a reward or compensation” is not a popular option, the only way to fight is to fight back with “towel” – to be a servant of all like Jesus. To serve and not to be served. To love and not to be loved … until death. It is a road less travelled and seldom appreciated, ironically, it is the only way to victory in the boxing arena called life.


Somebody did a golden deed; Somebody proved a friend in need; Somebody sang a beautiful song; Somebody smiled the whole day long; Somebody thought, 'Tis sweet to live; Somebody said, I'm glad to give; Somebody fought a valiant fight; Somebody lived to shield the right; Was that somebody you?" – Anonymous


- Fr.Willy M. Samson,SJ
Carmelite Convent
April 8, 2009